Some Minor ttural Industrie L 
299 
acquire ah appetite for the next meal. The isolation of the 
birds is no doubt conducive to contentment, and results in a 
quiet disposition of the avian mind which cannot be other than 
favourable to the rapid laying on of flesh. Old or quarrelsome 
fowls which it is desired to get rid of are rapidly fattened and 
sold for making soup. 
About 5,000 fowls are turned out from this establishment 
in a year. The total probably includes, however, some 
hundreds of very young chickens — petits poussins, as they are 
called in France — about a month old. These rapidly-fattened 
chickens fetch from Is. Gd. to 2s. in April and May, and furnish 
a choice dish for which the demand is an increasing one. 
The increase in weight appears to be very rapid in the 
earlier stages of cramming, as may be seen from the following 
details of nine birds which Mr. Brooke exhibited at the Dairy 
Show in 1893 : — 
Sept. 11 to 21 
Days 
. 10 
Total 
increase 
lb. oz. 
13 72 
Average increase 
per bird 
lb. oz. 
1 8 
Sept. 21 to 28 
. 7 
5 51 
o* 
Sept. 28 to Uct. y . 
. 10 
2 122 
5 
27 
21 10 
2 61 
At 21 days, or three weeks — the usual time of fattening — 
the average gain amounted to 2 lb. 3 oz. per bird. 
As to the best kind of poultry stock for flesh-producing 
purposes, Mr. Brooke is loud in his praises of the Dorking. 
“ The Plymouth Rock, too, is a splendid bird, though very leggy 
and bony. Houdans— -which as table fowls are as highly 
esteemed in France as are Dorkings in England — have also 
attracted the attention of our fanciers ; and old English game 
birds, which at one period seemed likely to become extinct, are 
also increasing in popularity. Indian game, which has had to 
live down the prejudice originally excited against it on account 
of the colour of its flesh when cooked, is now a favourite. After 
all, both in flavour and in colour, it most closely resembles the 
pheasant.” 
The fowl, however, which Mr. Brooke recommends as “the 
very best for table purposes ” is the cross between the Indian 
Game and the Dorking. It is quite hardy, it stands caponising 
thoroughly well, and it is believed that its more general intro- 
duction would exercise a beneficial influence in our barn-yards. 
His experience has convinced him that the finest cross-breds 
available for table purposes are the Indian Game-Dorkings ; 
“ they give so much breast, and the flesh is so full.” At the 
